The Mercy Beat (live)

There's a high wind blowin, & the stars are shining bright,
Oh what a night, this is gonna be--
I think I'll let the world sleep without me.
I got one eye open, one eye closed.
& My thin body's trembling beneath the bedclothes,
My hearts beatin' against the roof of my mouth

I got one hand on the radio, one hand on the wheel,
I got my right foot on the floorboard,--
& I'm preparing to kill or be killed.

There's a high wind blowin', & the stars are shining bright.
& The rain upon the tarmac,
I'm heading down to the dock of the bay,
I'm gonna move up close to that wind,
& Wrestle with the thoughts solitude always brings.

Y'see I'm stuck between hell & the deep blue sea,
& I know that water's sucked under better man than me,
I was just another western guy,
So one day, I asked the angels for inspiration,
& He's been buying them ever since,
He's had the liquor on my tongue
He's had me signing confessions
He's had me struggling to hang onto hope--
Like a drunken sailor in a tugboat
With a bottle of vodka in my overcoat,
& My dog eared bible lost--overboard

Y'see he tricked me into temptation,
So I've tricked him into this confrontation,
I never said I was the man I appeared to be
Not the flesh wrapped around the bones of necessity.
Or the soul on fire--scribbling thoughts for posterity.

I'm gonna have little lucifer, runnin' off to purgatory,
I'm gonna teach him a lesson
All the vultures & crows are fixin up some tombstones
But they won't be chewing the meat off my bones.

There's a high wind blowin' & the stars are shining bright.
Me & him are gonna have a little knife fight,
Oh this feelin' inside runs dark & deep

I was just another western guy,
With desires that couldn't be--satisfied.